QUICK TAKES

September 29, 2013

After six years in the financial services industry with another firm, Abrams recently joined Tri-State Financial President Ken Perkins and licensed representative Suzanne Kresser. He is a fully licensed adviser, offering his clients the ability to buy and sell stock, bonds, mutual funds, unit investment trusts variable annuities and all other forms of financial products.

He chose to affiliate with Tri-State Financial Services due to the company's high level of involvement in local charities and community events, as well as the fact that he can continue to serve the needs of his clients from his former firm in addition to assisting the clients of Tri-State Financial Services, a firm with more than 28 years of experience and more than $70 million in assets under management.

Call (740) 264-4466 for information or an appointment.

NEW OWNERS: Specialty retailer rue21 has a new owner.

Rue21, a leading specialty retailer for girls and guys apparel and accessories, has been acquired by Apax Partners, a global private equity firm.

"We are pleased that our stockholders recognize the significant merits of this transaction," said Bob Fisch, president, CEO and chairman of rue21. "We look forward to completing the transaction quickly and to working with the Apax team toward achieving our long-term objectives as a leading growth specialty retailer."

The transaction is expected to close in early October 2013, at which time rue21 will cease to be traded on NASDAQ.

Rue21's distribution center and e-commerce operations are located in Weirton's Three Springs Drive business park.

START-UP: A 20-year-old Ohio University student has quit school to start his own company.

Ian Hoyt is teaming with Leonard Mack in a Columbus-based startup, Octo-Pod, which is based around a charging device that can charge hundreds of different devices, including iPhones, Androids, Blackberries, mobile gaming systems, e-readers and more. Their goal is to have Octo-Pods in hotel rooms, coffee houses, restaurants, waiting rooms and college campuses to provide users an easy alternative to charging their devices on the go.

In conjunction with Octo-Pod, Hoyt and Mack also launched LosersSayNo.com, which they hope to make it an epicenter for entrepreneurship and motivation on the Internet.

The duo are documenting every integral step in building their startup to show the mistakes and successes they've had along the way, in hopes that others will learn from it.